


Time After Time

by Singing_Dreamer



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Cancer, F/M, Teen Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 11:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8665252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singing_Dreamer/pseuds/Singing_Dreamer
Summary: One visit will turn her whole world upside down. And he'll still be there at her side.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so I recently binged random episodes of Grey's Anatomy...and one episode in particular stuck out to me. It's called Time after Time from season 3. The story-line from the show this one-shot covers is the one with Izzie and George. If you don't know watch Grey's Anatomy you can still follow this story! Enjoy!

**Felicity**

It had started out as any other day.

Felicity had woken up at 6am and could already smell her coffee automatically brewing in her kitchen.

She had showered and dressed in the dress she had set out for herself the night before, blow dried her hair and swept it up into a ponytail, dusted a little makeup on her face, and stepped into her heals. She had then walked into her kitchen, poured herself some coffee into her to-go cup, and was out the door by 7:30am. Just like yesterday and the day before.

She was in the office by 7:50, brewing another pot of coffee, and going through her boss’s, Oliver’s, mail. She set the mail he had to handle personally on his desk and started moving things around in his schedule in accordance to any new emails she may have gotten while she was asleep and the rest of the business world continued on. At 8:50 she printed out the new itinerary for the day and was ready with files in hand as Oliver got out of the elevator at 9:00 on the dot.

Felicity may have only been 26 but she loved her life. Yes, it may not have been what she had pictured for herself when she had headed to MIT at 18 but then again she never pictured meeting Oliver at 21 and him becoming one of her best friends.

She had literally bumped into him in the library at MIT. She was mortified but mortification quickly turned to amusement when she found out that the handsome stranger she had just run into was lost, drunk and, on the wrong campus.

After figuring out he was supposed to be at Hult International Business School, thankfully also found in Cambridge, she somehow got him to the right school and even to the library. She had assumed that would be the last she’d ever see of him and had decided that the incident would make a great story someday.

But much to her surprise the stranger, who introduced himself as Oliver, found her the next day to give her his thanks. And as they say, the rest was history.

A year later she finished her degree at MIT and Oliver finished his degree at HIBS.

Oliver was set to start working at his family’s business right after graduation and was having trouble coming to grips with it. It was the story of his life from what Felicity had gathered. He had fought long and hard and yet the outcome was still the same. His family had wanted him to start college right after high school as most parents do but instead he took a few years off to “find himself”; ended up not going to college until he was 21. His family wanted him to either stay close to home, Starling University, or go to an Ivy League school: Yale, Harvard, Princeton etc. Instead he found a college on the east coast that a lot of people had never heard of. He at least appeased them by it being a business school. They wanted to rent him a house in Cambridge. Instead he found a little apartment above an Italian restaurant where he worked in lieu of rent.

Now, once again, they were trying to control his life. They had set him up as the VP of their applied science division and were trying to subtly imply that the daughter of an old family friend, Mr. Bertinelli, would be the perfect executive assistant.

Every time Oliver had mentioned it the week before graduation he had cringed. Helena Bertinelli was one of those girls who was just looking for a rich husband so instead of daddy taking care of her, her husband would instead. Apparently his parents were now also trying to make him settle down. At least they were being semi-discreet.

The day before his graduation, Felicity sat her best friend down and handed him an envelope with her resume. It was her graduation gift to him. She was coming with him to Starling and would be his EA. At first he had balked and refused her gift. She had too much potential and could go to any fortune 500 company in the country with her resume. She then explained her reasoning to him. One: Starling would be closer to her mother and even though they didn't talk it settled Felicity to know that she was close in case anything happened. Two: as his EA she could guide him towards the creation of amazing technology she had always dreamed of. She had no ideas of grandeur, she didn't need to see her name in magazine's or online talking about the latest tech. She just loved technology and didn’t care how she helped create it just as long as she did. It took awhile but she eventually convinced him and that’s how Felicity Smoak became Oliver Queen’s EA.

Four years later they had their schedule down pat. Felicity loved the status quo. Oliver loved the status quo. His family probably not so much but after four years they learned to deal with it and grudgingly admired not only Felicity as a person but also the odd friendship Oliver and Felicity seemed to share.

After four years of nothing out of the ordinary happening it really threw Felicity for a loop when something from her past leapt out of the closet that she had kept under lock and key.

Oliver was situated in his office with a few key leaders for a new project QC was trying to launch when Felicity’s intercom beeped signaling that the lobby was calling her.

“Hello Janet. How can I help you this afternoon?” Felicity answered in her normal cheerful voice.

“Hello Felicity. I have a couple down here trying to be let up to your floor…” Janet responded with a note of confusion in her voice.

“Oh, Mr. Queen is in a meeting right now and I really don’t have room in his schedule for any unscheduled guests today…” Felicity answered back with a note of apology. She usually kept an hour of wiggle room for instances like this but today was not one of those days.

“Oh no, Felicity. They aren’t here for Mr. Queen. They’re here to see you? They said their names were Angela and Paul Cordell…they said you’d recognize their names…”

And suddenly Felicity’s normal day was thrown off kilter.

Why would they be here? How had they found her? What could they want? Was…

“Felicity? Sweetie? Do you want me to send them away? Hel-“

“NO! I mean, send them up. Thank you Janet.” Felicity scrambled as soon as she hung up the phone. She glanced quickly towards Oliver’s office and caught Oliver giving her a curious look. She shook her head at him and gave him a small smile to inform him she was fine. She then turned towards the elevator and waited for the Cordell’s.

**Oliver**

Something was off with Felicity. And it must have only just happened since she had been her normal self this morning.

Oliver watched her out of the corner of his eye as she stood in front of her desk facing the elevator. The hand facing the glass wall of his office was fidgeting and he was mildly surprised to find that she must have picked up his tick of rubbing his thumb and middle finger together somewhere over the last few years.

Suddenly the elevator doors opened and a middle aged couple walked out of the elevator. There was nothing about either one that stuck out. The woman was of middling height with a short bob of brunette hair and from what he could see brown eyes. The man was about a foot taller than the woman, his wife Oliver would have to guess since they were holding hands. The man had a lighter shade of brunette hair than his wife and his eyes were blue. All this Oliver took in from the peripheral of his sight since he was now solely focused on Felicity who had seemed slightly crestfallen when she watched the couple come out of the elevator. Oliver was now completely ignoring the three scientists arguing over their battery idea in his office.

He watched as Felicity shook their hands and as they stood there awkwardly for a minute. Suddenly the woman burst into tears and Felicity and the woman’s husband quickly jumped into action. Felicity grabbed some Kleenex and the husband led his wife to the sofa.

Oliver’s attention was called away right after by the then quarrelling scientists. By the time he got them focused the crying woman was smiling at Felicity with tear still streaming down her face. The husband wasn’t doing much better as he began to pump Felicity’s hand up in down in an exuberant hand shake. Felicity looked slightly shell shocked and looked close to tears herself.

Soon the couple was headed back to the elevator and were hugging Felicity goodbye. Before the wife stepped into the elevator, however, she pulled what looked like a piece of paper out of her purse and handed it to Felicity. Felicity looked as though the woman had just handed her a bomb.

Even after the elevator doors closed Felicity still had not looked at the paper in her hand. It was only after the elevator indicated it had landed in the lobby that Felicity glanced down. All of a sudden Felicity rushed to the bathroom but before she turned completely Oliver spotted the first signs of tears spilling down her cheeks. That one glimpse was all it took for Oliver to call his current meeting short and send the scientists out of his office.

He walked towards the bathroom with trepidation. It took a lot to make Felicity brake. He knocked on the door tentatively even though every muscel in his body wanted him to just open the door. Felicity’s muffled voice came from inside.

“I’m fine Oliver.”

Oliver let a small huff of air. “You are not fine. You, running to the bathroom because you needed to cry, does not equal fine.” He heard let out a soft sob that was tangled with a laugh.

“Ok. You’re right I’m not fine.” Felicity whispered as she slowly opened the door. “I know I’m supposed to stay late today to help you with notes of your speech next week but can I just go home? Please?”

Oliver was slightly taken aback by her request.

“Of course you can go home.” He whispered back reaching to grasp her shoulder. “But what’s going on? Who were those people?”

“Oliver…you’ve probably noticed that I don’t talk about my family much. You know about my dad. And well…my mother is my mother. You might have noticed that even though I moved to be closer I’ve never gone to visit and she’s never come to visit me. She’s still mad at me. All these years later… Those people are tied to why she’s mad at me. I don’t know that I can tell you why. And, not because I don’t trust you, but because I really don’t think I can say it…I barely let myself think it. So please let me go home. Please drop this until I can get the strength to say it out loud.” She whispered back. Her hands, which had been held in fists at her side, had migrated to hold his face steady as she looked in his eyes.

He had never seen Felicity look so broken.

“Ok. Go home. Feel better.” He whispered as he bowed down slightly and kissed her forehead gingerly.

“Thank you.” New tears flowed as she went to her desk and collected her things.

He watched her climb into the elevator and with a sigh went back to his office and got back to work.

 

It was several hours later when his phone started ringing. At first he ignored it. If he could just get through this last document he could go home and call Felicity. The call ended and started up again. This time he pushed ignore. But then it started up again.

This time he glanced down and saw Sara Lance’s number flash across his screen. He swiped the call in.

“Sara, hi. I don’t really have time right now. I’m trying to finish up some paperwork and then I’m going to go to Felicity’s and check on her. She had a bad day today so I don’t really have time to talk right now.”

“Of course you don’t have time for me because of Felicity. Surprise surprise. Number one reason we broke up. But that’s not why I’m calling you. She’s not going to be at home Ollie. She’s here.”

“Who’s there?” Oliver asked confused.

“Felicity. She’s here.” Sara whispered.

“Wait why are you whispering? And were “here” Sara?” Oliver asked sliding back from his desk and already looking for his car keys.

Sara let out a long sigh over the phone then there was some shuffling and the sound of a door opening and then closing. “Look Ollie I could get in some big trouble for doing this. Doctor/patient confidentiality kind of trouble.”

“Sara! You’re a nurse! Are you trying to tell me Felicity’s at the hospital?” At this point Oliver was waiting impatiently in the elevator as it slowly took him to the underground garage were his car was parked.

“Look. She’s getting some bone marrow harvested and it’s a painful procedure and she told the doctor she’d be fine on her own…But I’ve read the file and… I don’t think it’s a good idea for her to be alone right now. So are you on your way or not Ollie?” Sara asked at this point exasperated with the conversation.

“I’m in my car right now. Where should I go when I get there?” Oliver asked as he pulled out in front of QC.

“I’ll meet you in the ER and take you to her myself. See you in 5.” And with that Sara hung up the phone.

It felt as though it took hours to get to the hospital and park. It then felt like an eternity passed as Sara took Oliver to the oncology side of the building and covered him in scrubs and a mask.

When Oliver finally entered the room where Felicity was, she was laying on a table in a hospital gown and a cap covering her blonde hair.

Her eyes widened when he walked in and tears began to fall. Those tears made him hurry to her side.

Not one word was said between them as he kneeled in front of her and grasped her hand as the doctor behind her began to drill a hole in her hip.

They just stared into each other’s eyes, both praying for it to be over.

Hours later they found themselves in an empty hospital room where Felicity was trying to put on the scrubs the hospital had given her to be more comfortable.

Oliver sat silently in the corner chair with his hands clasped in his lap.

So many thoughts were circling in his head but one thought kept creeping to the forefront.

“Who?” It was asked so quietly and so unobtrusively that if Felicity hadn’t been waiting for the question she never would’ve heard it.

She froze with her pants finally half way up her legs.

“Her name is Izzie.”  She whispered back brokenly.  “Those were her parents at the QC offices this morning. She has Leukemia. She had a donor set up but he died. They needed someone new and quickly. They couldn’t wait on the donor list again.”

There she stopped as though gathering her thoughts and the plundered through once again.

“She’s 10 years old. Her parent’s adopted her so they knew neither one of them was a match. They knew their best luck was to find Izzie’s biological parents and hope that they were a match. The only parent on Izzie’s file however was her birth mother. So they found her and asked her to get tested. To see if she could save their child.”

With those last sentences she looked up at Oliver as he looked searchingly into her eyes. His head was spinning. Was she trying to say…?

“I was sixteen. My mom wanted me to keep her but I wasn’t stupid. I knew what kind of life she would have if I was selfish and kept her.  So I met with an adoption agency on my own. I met Angela and Paul, Izzie’s parents, months before I gave birth. When she was born I sent my mom home to sleep and called Angela and Paul… I held her once. Right when she was born. I remember when Angela met her baby she started crying. She was so happy. It was a closed adoption. I knew if I had any kind of contact it would hurt too much. My mother never forgave me.” At this point Felicity was openly sobbing. Big hiccupping breaths were wracking her chest.

Oliver was at her side in instant. Holding her and rocking her.

“Shhh…shhh… It’s alright my brave girl. Let it out. It’s ok” He whispered into her hair as she continued to weep in his arms.

Felicity eventually quieted. When her breaths were back to normal she reached for her purse and pulled out a picture and handed it to Oliver.

“That’s Izzie. I’ve never had a picture of her before. Izzie is what Angela and Paul named her but when she was born I named her Hannah in my head. That’s my Hannah.” She handed the picture to Oliver and he took it in his trembling hand.

In the picture was a smiling little girl with Felicity’s big blue eyes and a riot of brunette curls. He knew that when Felicity didn’t have time to tame her hair it looked just like that. Oliver also had a feeling he was getting a glimpse at Felicity’s natural hair color as well. This little girl, Izzie, Felicity’s Hannah, was a carbon copy of the young woman sitting in front of him now. It was uncanny.

Suddenly Felicity began to fidget with her hands. Oliver glanced at her, simply rising an eyebrow in question.

“Paul and Angela said I could go meet her after the harvest. They’re not going to introduce me as her biological mother right now. They said they’ll tell her when she’s older but they said they’ll introduce me as an old family friend. I was wondering if you could come with me. I don’t think I’m brave enough to do this on my own anymore.” Felicity looked up at Oliver with such hope and trust in her eyes as she asked him to meet her daughter with her for the first time.

Without even having to give it a single thought he reached for her hand to help her into the waiting wheelchair. “Well let’s go meet your Hannah.”


End file.
